Soledad's Journal

Why do I have to attract self-righteous, judgemental idiots everywhere? I'm used to it on FF.Net, but now they've hunted me down on AO3 as well? It's really depressing that when I do get a comment once in a blue moon, it has to be something like this.

( Discussion on my AO3 review board )

So, can anybody tell me why my first answer was defensive or offensive or both? I'm honestly fed up with people who keep telling me how I ought to see certain characters (assuming that we see them differently). I'll wait if the self-entitled "critic" lets things go, but if they keep arguing, I'll simply delete their comments. I don't have to put up with this kind of idiocy, IMO. Especially as the person probably could be my grandchild (at least mentally).

I wish people who supposedly do read and like my stories would be this eager to comment and discuss things.

Addendum: The self-important idiot in question just couldn't bear not having the last word, so I deleted the entire thread. I wonder if they'll show up again. Can you block people on AO3?

My story, Sleeping Dragons 00 - The Unexpected Rise of Director Jones has been translated into Russian by Igrain. I am very proud! So far, the only work of me ever translated into another language had been Of Elflings and Mice, a short two-chapter story of 4590 words altogether, which Cuthalion translated into German several Ages ago.

"Director Jones" is a monstrosity of 20 chapters! I'm very honoured that someone found it good enough to make the enormous effort and made it available for the Russian Torchwood fandom.

... picowrimo now has a March season. Last November we decided to split the three months more evenly along the year, and this is our first attempt to have a Spring season.

There aren't many participants so far, as most people have wandered off to other places - although we do have a Dreamwidth feed, too - but we find these virtual get-togethers helpful to unstuck our blocked stories and generally exchange our experiments with other struggling writers.

So, if you want to join the fun, or just to read the discussions, hop over to picowrimo. The posts are accessible for everyone, and perhaps you'll find the one or other snippet interesting.

As for me, I've decided not to put up the next chapter of "Brothers-in-Arms" to AO3 just yet. Usually, I re-post there my older stories one chapter a day, but since Chapter 2 hasn't had a single hit yet, I think I'll wait until my regular readers (all 2 or 3 of them) catch up with me. Otherwise what is the point?

I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed. I know the Cadfael fandom is a small one, and I deal with secondary (or tertiary) characters in this story, but I secretly hoped that after "Lost in the Past" having been such an unexpected hit, people would get interested in reading about the same characters in a canon-compliant story, too. Ah, well.

If my whining got you interested and you're planning to hop over to AO3 to take a look, I think a fair warning is necessary: "Brothers-in-Arms" starts off as a slash story. Nothing explicit or descriptive, and one half of the couple is killed off early on, but I know that quite a few people don't like slash and I wouldn't want you folks to stumble upon it unawares.

In these days of very little feedback, I find it annoying like hell when people only read a story to find mistake - or what they believe is a mistake.

Just last night, someone left a comment for Random Fools, in which they told me, they believed that the surname of a completely insignificant one-time character was not what I wrote it was - that the word was merely a hint to some maneuver I never heard of.

Now, why is is that someone would read a 5-chapter-story - and the 9th part of a long series at that - and don't feel inclined to drop a single line of appreciation, but feel the necessity of correcting some possible mistake that they aren't even certain about, in what has been clearly labelled as an AU. Are people insane, totally self-absorbed and in need to show off, even if they make complete fools of themselves, or do they have way too much time on their hands?

I hoped I'd left that kind of behaviour behind me on FF.Net. Unfortunately, the idiots seem to be migrating to AO3 as well. A good thing that you can delete all kinds of comments on AO3; I don't feel like start an argument with someone on the review board. [/end rant]

So, I made a small chocolate cake for a colleague, who is a very nice young woman (half my age, actually), to celebrate the fact that she's successfully faced a complicated (work-related) situation. I hope she'll like it. As she's allergic to lactose, I had to make a cake that had no dairy products in it and still tastes good.

Here it is, waiting in its box to be taken to school tomorrow:



On a side note: where is everyone? Granted, I mostly keep this journal to follow the events of my own life - and those of my online friends - but where have said friends gone? In these days Linda is the only one still around. :(

Also, I began to post my Tolkien fic to AO3. Very few people over there seem to be interested in Tolkienfic anymore. And even those seem to be completely uninterested in the stories I personally think are my best ones. Like "The Face of the Enemy", "The Last Stand" or the Halabor-related ones. Are people only interested in formulaic fic in these days?

I find that the most grateful readers are still in the Torchwood fandom. Go figure. They even comment in every leap year, unlike the others.

I started posting the "Birthright" series to AO3. The fandom seems pretty dead, I've had one single hit so far. But since this is mostly safety posting anyway, I can live with it. I've lowered my expectations where feedback is concerned. As long as there aren't any flames and malicious nitpicking, I'm content.

Of course, gushing praise would be even better, but I've come to accept that I never had and will never have the specific ATA-gene that makes someone wildly popular. Not in my day work and not in the writing world, either. Ah, well, there are worse fates.

On domestic news, the big annual carpet cleaning is scheduled for Monday. We've been packing things and moving things all day, cause clearer guy will need room to work. Plus, I unexpectedly lost half the filling in one of my wisdom teeth (isn't it a good thing that I only have two of those left?), so a visit at the dentist's will be necessary, too. Stupid tooth, couldn't it have spat out the filling early during summer break when I had actually time to bother with it? *sigh*

I'm seriously considering taking down Arthur's Quest and Auguries of Immortality for good.

Both stories have gained a few mean-spirited, deliberately hurtful reviews, and I just don't feel up to dealing with that sort of abuse from know-it-alls who could probably be my grandchildren. I know I shouldn't care for their idiotic comments, but it fucking hurts to much, seeing stories in which I literally invested years of labour and research and love being torn apart chapter by chapter by people who clearly wanted to read a completely different story.

The only thing that makes me hesitate is that I'd lose a considerable number of older reviews that are loving and positive. I've almost taken down "Auguries" years ago, and I might just do it. It's only 6 chapters, after all, compared with the 22 of "Arthur's Quest".

I don't know why do I attract rude idiots so much, in several different fandoms. Perhaps I've got an invisible bull's eye on my back that they can track or whatnot. I wish people who follow and favourite the same stories could be arsed to review so enthusiastically, but I've given up on that years ago.

Edit: I've just deleted "Auguries" because the reviewer kept abusing me on the review board, even though I've blocked them - I don't know how that is possible, but it worked. I've exported the individual parts in the hope that I might repost them eventually, and saved the reviews to my HD - will file out the abuse and keep the good ones at least for myself - but I'm not willing to take that sort of rudeness. I'll remove my entire FF.Net account if I have to, although that is the only archive I can actually use. AO3 is too much of a bother for me. *sigh*

Edit #2: And I'm an idiot, too. I forgot that old reviews are on several pages, and I only saved the latest one. So, I lost about a worth of 20 positive comments. Oh, well. The pain of a brutal operation and all that. I'm really depressed now.

I so hate people who only comment to point out mistakes! Especially if they are wrong. They don't appreciate the hard work and love one puts into a story; they only read to find mistakes and point them out triumphantly.
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The thing is, I updated Arthur's Quest, thanks to the extra speedy beta work by the most generous lindahoyland. So far, the only comment I got was from an Anonymouse who thinks they might lost interest in the story because, and I quote, it is a shame that I made Gwen of noble birth. Never mind that the hints have been there from early on...
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On a completely unrelated note, I made my first paper ball today. It was great fun, and not halas as complicated as I feared it would be.

Epic rant behind the tag. Don't like, don't read!
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